Man jailed for stealing manhole covers

[Pang De]

Man jailed for stealing manhole covers
By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 20 January 2011 1937 hrs
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SINGAPORE: A 36-year-old man has been jailed for five weeks after stealing 19 PUB manhole covers worth S$3,800.

By doing this, Abdul Rahim Ramli was also convicted of performing a rash act as he then left gaping holes on road surfaces which endangered the safety of others.

One taxi got stuck in the middle of the road because of his act.

Abdul Rahim pleaded guilty on Thursday to four charges while 16 others were taken into consideration.

Abdul Rahim admitted he stole the manhole covers from places such as Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 and Bedok Ria Crescent in December, last year.

He committed the offences with 37-year-old Juraimy Mohamed Hashim who was also sentenced on Wednesday to five weeks' jail.

The two men drove around the island in a van to steal the manhole covers which were then sold to an unknown China national for about S$200 each.

The court heard that due to the stolen cover at Bedok Ria Crescent, one of the rear wheels of a taxi ended up in an open manhole at around 2pm on December 14. As a result, the vehicle was stuck in the middle of the road.

Even though the taxi was not damaged and nobody was hurt in the incident, the cabby, 56-year-old Tan Thiam Poh, had to fork out S$60 to call for a tow truck to move his vehicle out of the manhole.

The prosecution stressed that missing manhole covers endangered the safety of road users and can damage vehicles.

Those who accidentally fall through the manholes can also be seriously injured.

For stealing the manhole covers, Abdul Rahim could have been jailed up to three years and fined for each charge.

And for performing the rash act, he could have been jailed up to six months and fined a maximum of S$2,500.

-CNA/wk

 

[Jabba the Hutt]

Apr 21, 2011

IN THE ST NEWSPAPER TODAY
Jail terms trebled for manhole cover thieves

By Selina Lum

TWO men who went on a spree, stealing covers from 19 manholes across Singapore, each had their five-week jail term trebled after the prosecution appealed.

In increasing the jail terms for Juraimy Mohamed Hashim, 36, and Abdul Rahim Ramli, 35, Justice Chao Hick Tin agreed with prosecutors that these were serious offences that concern public safety.

The appeal judge also noted that the offences were planned and not committed on the spur of the moment.

The manhole covers, belonging to national water agency PUB, were each valued at $200. The total value of the stolen covers was $3,800.

Over the course of December last year, the duo drove a van to various places in Singapore to steal the covers.

The manhole covers were later sold to an unknown man for an unspecified profit. None of the covers has been recovered.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times